finally, watched the replay of final on star sports.......i have to say it's the same old defensive garbage from nadal.......when will he learn that that dropping the ball short will not cut it against djokovic?

.......

really if this is the level which still took him to almost the brink of victory, why the freaking hell does he not find a way to stay aggressive off the backhand side?

You don't think he tried to play more aggressively? I thought the drastic increase in aces, double faults, and UFE's were clear indicators that he was playing a riskier game against Nole. Not consistently, but it seemed to be a definite shift in strategy to me.

yes he did all that you mentioned but just din't stick with that aggressive strategy through out the match, just did not stick to his guns and stayed positive all through.......played very tentative whenever he was ahead in the scoreline and aggressively when behind.......

and he missed that backhand at 4-2 30-15 to round it off.......i am disappointed.......he is surely capable of playing much better than this.......he should have taken this final despite his average showing for most of the match, he still had it in his grasp.......

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Marian Vajda to Novak Djokovic, "I saw you beat that man like I never saw no man get beat before, and the man KEPT COMING AFTER YOU! Now we don't need no man like that in our lives."

finally, watched the replay of final on star sports.......i have to say it's the same old defensive garbage from nadal.......when will he learn that that dropping the ball short will not cut it against djokovic?

.......

really if this is the level which still took him to almost the brink of victory, why the freaking hell does he not find a way to stay aggressive off the backhand side?

You don't think he tried to play more aggressively? I thought the drastic increase in aces, double faults, and UFE's were clear indicators that he was playing a riskier game against Nole. Not consistently, but it seemed to be a definite shift in strategy to me.

yes he did all that you mentioned but just din't stick with that aggressive strategy through out the match, just did not stick to his guns and stayed positive all through.......played very tentative whenever he was ahead in the scoreline and aggressively when behind.......

and he missed that backhand at 4-2 30-15 to round it off.......i am disappointed.......he is surely capable of playing much better than this.......he should have taken this final despite his average showing for most of the match, he still had it in his grasp.......

Agreed. As I've mentioned before, higher risk play must seem counter-intuitive to someone who has made a career out of grinding. He does seem willing to make the change and if he continues to work at it I'm sure he will eventually reap the benefit of being able to use either style depending on the opponent.

one thing you might have noticed, he said that he is using a heavier racket head from this season to flatten out the groundstrokes a bit more.......

he definitely struggled to flatten those backhands against djokovic when he had to.......i think it will take a couple more tournaments time to totally adjust to that.......anyway i still think he should have stayed positive with that backhand in particular.......

i remember he changed his strings in 2010, had an average showing up until montecarlo and really turned it around after that.......rafa is one player who is willing to go out of the way and try different things.......

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Marian Vajda to Novak Djokovic, "I saw you beat that man like I never saw no man get beat before, and the man KEPT COMING AFTER YOU! Now we don't need no man like that in our lives."

I did not pay attention, but did it appear he has changed the forehand swing motion at all? Or just a change in the racquet head weight? A heavier racquet will probably pop his shoulder out of joint with that swing

I did not pay attention, but did it appear he has changed the forehand swing motion at all? Or just a change in the racquet head weight? A heavier racquet will probably pop his shoulder out of joint with that swing

the bug whip forehand returns on clay in montecarlo.......so the shoulder is currently taking some rest........

so far he's been flattening out a lot of inside-out forehands with this new racket, and is trying hard to flatten his crosscourt backhand as well but only to little success so far with the backhand.......he attacked federer's forehand a lot in the semis, something which i don't recollect him doing in the recent times against fed.......

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Marian Vajda to Novak Djokovic, "I saw you beat that man like I never saw no man get beat before, and the man KEPT COMING AFTER YOU! Now we don't need no man like that in our lives."

Swish, thanks for posting that video. Sometimes it's hard to find good quality stuff on you tube. too much stuff about top players. I usually look for the video of their matches but it's not easy to always get them. when you type Djokovic, you get all of this things about his imitations, his gf, his meeting with the prime minister of Great Britain, etc... sure I can get the highlights but I'm having a really hard time too see simple matches I wanna see.

OK, he is the best but you keep repeating yourself. I'm glad you are a Nole fan but try to contribute to the board. Keep saying, Nole is the best really means nothing. again welcome to the board but again try to contribute with eg. why he is the best or whatever, talk about the game etc.

OK, he is the best but you keep repeating yourself. I'm glad you are a Nole fan but try to contribute to the board. Keep saying, Nole is the best really means nothing. again welcome to the board but again try to contribute with eg. why he is the best or whatever, talk about the game etc.

Swish, thanks for posting that video. Sometimes it's hard to find good quality stuff on you tube. too much stuff about top players. I usually look for the video of their matches but it's not easy to always get them. when you type Djokovic, you get all of this things about his imitations, his gf, his meeting with the prime minister of Great Britain, etc... sure I can get the highlights but I'm having a really hard time too see simple matches I wanna see.

Glad you liked it. The match was so long there is no way in h##L I was going to watch it all.

OK, he is the best but you keep repeating yourself. I'm glad you are a Nole fan but try to contribute to the board. Keep saying, Nole is the best really means nothing. again welcome to the board but again try to contribute with eg. why he is the best or whatever, talk about the game etc.

OK, he is the best but you keep repeating yourself. I'm glad you are a Nole fan but try to contribute to the board. Keep saying, Nole is the best really means nothing. again welcome to the board but again try to contribute with eg. why he is the best or whatever, talk about the game etc.

donation or not, he should have won it after getting so close to the finish like by leading 4-2 30-15 on his own serve.........i and other nadal fans would have settled for AO and FO titles this year........courier was the last one to do the AO-FO double........

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Marian Vajda to Novak Djokovic, "I saw you beat that man like I never saw no man get beat before, and the man KEPT COMING AFTER YOU! Now we don't need no man like that in our lives."